This is the cover of the highly anticipated debut novel, “An Ember in the Ashes,” a fantasy written by former Washington Post journalist Sabaa Tahir, which will be published in April 2015 by Razorbill.

The novel follows two teenagers: Laia, a member of the Scholar class, and Elias, a Soldier, as their fates dovetail under the ruthless Martial Empire regime. Here, scholars are forbidden to read and gain knowledge, while soldiers are trained to execute all insurgents.

Paramount bought the film rights for the book, and Mark Johnson (“The Chronicles of Narnia,” “The Notebook”) and Haroon Saleem (Tahir’s brother) will co-produce the film adaptation.

Speakeasy talked with Tahir about the inspiration for “An Ember in the Ashes,” transitioning from journalism to fiction, and the film adaptation. Below, an edited transcript.

What was the seed for this story? Were you inspired by ancient Roman history?

The initial story idea came to me after I read a newspaper article about men jailed by military forces in Kashmir and never seen again. I wondered—what would I do if a beloved family member was taken in such a way? Would I have the courage to try to get him back?

The book sprang from those questions and as the story spooled out, I found I needed a rich backdrop for it, one teeming with intrigue, politics and high drama. The Julio-Claudian era has always fascinated me for those exact reasons, so I combined my modern-day questions with ancient inspiration and Ember was born.

An interesting aspect of the story is that the “Scholar” class is forbidden to read. Did you similarly draw upon history to imagine this world in which knowledge is curtailed in order to control who has power?

I absolutely drew upon history for this facet of the story. Oppression takes so many forms and one of the most insidious is the suppression of knowledge. Our country has an unfortunate history of this—the slavery-era anti-literacy laws. While those laws are thankfully long gone, there are still places in the modern world where education and literacy are considered dangerous. The 2012 attack on Malala Yousafzai is proof of that.

With Ember, I wanted to tell the story of a class of people once renowned for their knowledge—the “Scholars”—and the impact that the suppression of that knowledge has on their collective self-identity. The heroine of the novel is a Scholar who also happens to be literate. Her literacy is, in fact, one of the main reasons she’s able to overcome the powerlessness of her people to try to change her own destiny.

You were a foreign-news editor at The Washington Post. What led you to write fiction?

I’ve loved fiction since I was a kid making up stories about talking animals. Fiction just offers so much freedom. It allows me to wander in worlds of my own making, to daydream and imagine and explore for a living.

That said, nothing beats the raw realism of a well-reported news story. Working in newspapers taught me the importance of research and interviewing. I did both when writing Ember in the hopes that the resulting story would authentically explore basic human truths found in both fiction and non-fiction.

Did you spend time working overseas, and did this inspire some stories in the book?

Quite the opposite, actually. I’ve never worked overseas, and spent nearly all of my childhood in a town in California’s Mojave Desert. My parents had a small motel there, so you could say the world came to me. People from all over stayed at our motel, always while on their way to somewhere else.

This early exposure to so many different kinds of people forced me to step outside my comfort zone and try to understand how individuals raised in other environments think and live. In doing so, I acquired an appreciation of conflicting but equally valid narratives. This has, in turn, emerged as a theme in the novel, which is told from two entirely different points of view.

Will you be involved in the film adaptation?

I’ll definitely be involved. Paramount is very committed to staying true to the book, which is wonderful and something that every writer hopes for. I’m also lucky enough to have a great relationship with the producers working on the film!

My brother took the project to Mark Johnson (Breaking Bad, Chronicles of Narnia, The Notebook), with whom he had worked previously. Excitingly for me, they’ll both be producing.

Did you contribute to the creation of the book’s cover, shared here?

The initial cover idea was conceived by the team at Penguin/Razorbill, and taken through a few iterations. As the cover evolved, I offered comments about specific elements like building architecture or color choice. The designers were more than open to my suggestions, but to be honest, I didn’t have to make that many. They had it right from day one.

How do you feel the cover illustrates your story?

Much of An Ember in the Ashes is set at Blackcliff Academy—that’s the structure at the top of the cover. The play of shadow and light there beautifully illustrates the contrasting themes of good and evil, courage and cowardice, and hope and despair that run through the novel. Meanwhile, the sunrise searing through the rock and illuminating the title gives the cover an otherworldly feel. Last, I think the desert on the bottom of the cover offers a great sense of place. All these elements combine to create something that is, (I hope), both evocative and intriguing.